Mikel Janín’s cover is beautiful. And chilling. It hooked me into buying my first issue of Detective Comics in quite a while. The positioning of Batman promises mystery. The floating figures inspire dread. The combination of colours attracts the eye beyond events hinted at in the image.
I couldn’t open this comic quickly enough. Inside, we have Batman narrating, recalling an incident from his early days.
Take the fear from people? The little boy has just seen his father taken by what seems to be a monster.
Today, Batman responds after a party boat in Gotham Harbor is rammed by a towering fishing vessel. A woman has fallen into the dark, deathly cold waters.
Later, Batman boards the mystery vessel, and finds bodies. Dozens of them, killed in different ways. He calls for back-up.
Janín and writer Tom Taylor, who did such innovative work on Nightwing, bring us a darkly compelling opening chapter in a new storyline. We don’t find out who’s behind the killings, but given the book opens with the Caped Crusader’s meditation on fear, and he comes across this message in the depths of the ship…
The fear will end, Gotham. Your courage is coming.
– The Lion
… I’d guess the Scarecrow. Or an Anti-Scarecrow. And the references to ‘courage’ and ‘lion’ scream ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Plus, some of the letters are underlined, can we rearrange EANURAMI into something significant?
Taylor’s Batman is all business here, not because he’s soulless, but because there’s work to be done – who knows how many more people will be killed if he doesn’t get to the bottom of this, and quickly. I’m not usually a big fan of stories in which Bruce Wayne doesn’t appear at all, but this is a slick little thriller, and it seems entirely appropriate that it’s all Batman, all the way. And I really loved seeing the Bat-Boat, even though we’re told this is the Batplane – I suppose it’s a ‘toofer’ these days.
Whatever the case, Janín ensures the vessel looks as good as everything else in this book, from the early picture of Batman at his most terrifying to a horrifying splash page of the carnage on the fishing ship. The artist also colours the issue, and his ability to set down complementary tones is extraordinary – few artists can use neons so well.
Actually, I do have one quibble – Janín indicates Batman’s real ears under the cowl – it looks deeply weird.
Wes Abbot lays down the letters with his usual skill, the grey-toned Batman narration boxes being especially attractive.
While the grisliness of the story means it won’t be to all tastes – not even children are spared horrible fates – if you enjoy sharp, dark mysteries in a Batman vein, give this a try.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 